American record holder Deena Kastor shares why being a mom makes her a better runner.

Age and Event: 42, Distance Runner Children: Daughter Piper Bloom, 4 Pre-Kids: She was the first American woman to run sub-2:20 in the marathon (2:19:36 at the London Marathon in 2006); won a bronze medal in the women’s marathon at the 2004 Olympics in Greece. Post-Kids: New world record in 2014 for women’s masters half marathon with a time of 1:09:39, shattering her own American masters half-marathon record of 1:11:38. Now: Still competing, president of the Mammoth Track Club and blogs at DeenaKastor.com Related: Paula Radcliffe On Being A Mom She Says: “After having Piper, I wasn’t sure I would still have a passion for running. I soon realized that running makes me better at everything I do including being a mom. Now that Piper is 4, it is so fun to share running with her. I love to see her joy while she is running, which means Andrew [my husband] and I have done a good ...